ARIE VAN BEEK CONDUCTING
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55 ‘Eroica’ (1804)
RICHARD STRAUSS
Metamorphoses (1945)
Although they are separated by almost a century and a half, Richard Strauss's Metamorphoses and Beethoven's Third Symphony seem to embody the essence of Romanticism. With his ‘Eroica’ Symphony, Beethoven turned the history of music on its head: conceived as a tribute to Bonaparte before becoming his tomb, it embodies a symphonic revolution in which triumphalism and a dramaturgical vision of instrumental music clash. The ultimate echo of what became the starting point for the history of German Romanticism, Richard Strauss, in his poignant Metamorphoses, composed a moving elegy for strings in the twilight of the Second World War, a funereal meditation on a world in ruins. An evening in which the heroic ideal comes face to face with the tragedy of History.
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55 ‘Eroica’ (1804)
RICHARD STRAUSS
Metamorphoses (1945)
Although they are separated by almost a century and a half, Richard Strauss's Metamorphoses and Beethoven's Third Symphony seem to embody the essence of Romanticism. With his ‘Eroica’ Symphony, Beethoven turned the history of music on its head: conceived as a tribute to Bonaparte before becoming his tomb, it embodies a symphonic revolution in which triumphalism and a dramaturgical vision of instrumental music clash. The ultimate echo of what became the starting point for the history of German Romanticism, Richard Strauss, in his poignant Metamorphoses, composed a moving elegy for strings in the twilight of the Second World War, a funereal meditation on a world in ruins. An evening in which the heroic ideal comes face to face with the tragedy of History.
